Plural source heated fluid mixing head



Jan. 24, 1967 L. L. MARRAFFINO PLURAL SOURCE HEATED FLUID MIXING HEAD Filed Jan. 2l, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. LEONARD L. MARRAFHNO ATTORNEYv Jan. 24, 1967 l.. MARRAFFINO 3,300,095

PLURAL SOURCE HEATED FLUID MIXING HEAD 0 Filed Jan. 2l, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 H05 HG@ 48 w .Il

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LEONARD l.A MARRAFFIN() wz/rb//n/MU United States Patent O 3,300,095 PLURAL SOURCE HEAT ED FLUID MIXING HEAD Leonard L. Maralno, 1824 NW. 36th Court, Oakland Park, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. 33309 Filed Jan. 21, 1965, Ser. No. 426,720 6 Claims. (Cl. 222-146) My invention relates to a mixing head for use with a pressurized aerosol-type container, the mixing head having a housing for containing a secondary fluid to be blended with the primary fluid Vof the container prior to nal dispensing through a spout. Certain fluids continue to expand following dispensing, thereby producing an oozing or dripping condition at the spout for some period yof time after use. My invention eliminates this p-roblem b-y providing the `housing of the mixing head with a normally expanded wall means which is distorted within its elastic limits during the normal dispensing operation to red-ucc the volume yof the housing and upon cessation of the dispensing operati-on returns to its undistorted expanded condition, thereby returning vthe volume of the housing to its normal size to accommodate any increase in volume of the mixture residuum in the housing.

While numerous uses Imay be made -of my invention, a particularly effective use is found in the ho't shaving lather field. My invention will ltherefore be specifically described yas to its application to this field.

Attempts have been made to provide a hot shaving lather using a pressurized can; a major dilliculty lies in the inconvenience and delay involved in heating various lelements with ho-t water or electricity and then Awarm-ing the lather 'by contact with these heated elements.

My invention preferably utilizes a lather lof a particular corn-position capa'ble Iof blending with -a predetermined quantity of hot water to produce the require-d lather consistency and, of equal importance, a lather heated suff- Iiiciently to facilitate shaving. It will be recognized that the addition of hot water to the lather may, under certain circumstances, eliminate the need for wetting the face prior to shaving.

The mixing head Iof Lmy invention is designed for manufacture fromsuitable plastic materials and at a cost sufficiently low to be used with the p-ressurized can with which it may 'be sold and then thrown away, this relatively inexpensive unit being sound in structural components and substantially foolproof in operation without requiring adherence to severe and expensive manufacturing tolerances.

While my mixing head is -primarily adapted for use with the thicker shaving lathers to which hot Water should be added, it will be of value also to the regular shaving lathers, especially where the person desires a more liquid type foam.

Other objects, advantages and meritorious features will more fully appear from the following specilica-tion, claims and accompanying `drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side View in section with parts cut away for clarity of a preferred embodiment of 'a mixing head mounted on a pressurized can;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 sho-wing the dispensing position;

FIG. 3 is a section `taken on line 3 3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a section showing the top of the housing in open condition;

FIG. 5 is another modification of my mixing head;

FIG. 6 is a view similar to F'IG. 5 showing -the dispensing position;

FIG. 7 is a further modification of my mixing head; and

FIG. 8 is a view of the lock pin of FIGS. 5-7.

Referrin-g now to the drawing, it ywill be seen that my "ice mixing head is mounted on a pressurized primary fluid container 1S in the normal manner. An apertured socket 16 snugly receives the discharge valve 17 `of the pressurized container, rthis valve being of the normal type, which upon displacement from its spring biased extended or closed position opens the container and allows the pressurized lather to be discharged therefrom. In the embodiment shown, the action would be an inward action against the outwardly biased valve though, of course, a tipping action with certain valves -will accomplish the same end.

The socket 16 is part of a housing 18 and is located at the bottom thereof, the housing having a spout 19, preferably at the top portion there-of as shown. The housing is adapted to contain a secondary fluid 20 such as hot water `for blending with the primary `fluid 21 or lather discharged from the valve and through the socket into the housing. The discharged velocity of the lather from the container produces a somewhat violent mixing and blending in the housing accomplishing a mixing and entrainment of Water with the lather ultimately passing through the spout.

The housing 18 includes a normally expanded wall means 22 which prior to the actuation of the valve to lopen condition becomes distorted within its elastic limit, thereby reducing the volume of the housing. When the dispensing operation is completed, the distorted wall means 22 returns itself to its normally undistorted condition to increase the volume of the housing, the change in volume being of a predetermined amount to accommodate the normal increase in volume `of the mixture residuum which remains within the housing. This Volume increment accommodates the expanding mixture and prevents oozing or discharge from the spout.

Another important feature is the provision of a mixing head which converts the stream discharging from the valve into a higher velocity stream capable of substantial contact with the secondary uid in the head for heat transfer purposes and further capable of entraining and mixing with va portion of the second liuid during travel to the spout. To accomplish this in ya predictably controlled manner it has been found that a vertical cylinder type housing havin-g an inside diameter and height about 11A inches requires a pin-hole type orifice 50 in the socket having a diameter of about .030 inch and Ia spout entry opening 51 in the housing four to eight times larger. No baille or other mixing means yare required in the housing.

In the preferred embodiment shown in FIGS. 1-4, the housing 18 includes a cylindrical main member 25, the peripheral edge 26 of which snaps into rigid engagement with the normal annular rim 27 of the container 15. The housing includes a top 29 lwhich is integrally hinged by web 30 to the cylinder 25 and snapped into enga-gement with the top periphery 31 of the cylinder, the top 29 having a spout 19 extending therefrom. A flexible hinge means 32 connects the lower end portion of cylinder 25 to the centrally located socket 16. Integral with and extending upwardly from the socket 16 `are three legs 33, the upper ends of which being positioned for contact with a bearing means 34 depending from the top 29.

The top 29 of FIGS. 1-4 provides the wall means 22 of the housing which may be distorted inwardly within its elastic limits as shown in FIG. 2 to reduce the volume of the housing prior t-o and during the dispensing operation. It will be noted that the bearing means 34 provides a lost motion increment, thereby enabling the volume reduction required prior to contacting `and actuating the valve 17.

The flexible hinge means 32 of FIG. 1 is in the form of a truncated-cone dome 70 which serves also as the bot- 10m wall lof the housing 18. FIG. 4 is a partial view of the mixing head indicating the manner of molding the mixing head in a single piece, a portion of the parting line between the molds being at the dome 70. The particul-ar relationship of parts of the mixing head enables the use of this inexpensive molding technique.

If desired, a larger volume of hot water may be made available by knocking or cutting out the pie-shaped segments 71 delineated by score lines in FIG. 3 (one segment being cut out 'for clarity) thereby providing a flexible hinge means 32 formed by three radiating exible arms 72. The top surface 28 of container 15 would then serve as the bottom wall. It will be understood that the hot water serves two purposes, one being the dilution of the primary shaving fluid discharged from the container and the other being the provision of a sufficient quantity f heat to effect a significant rise in the temperature of the primary shaving fluid. The greater the volume of hot water, the more effective will be the heat transfer. In some circumstances, it may be highly desirable to knock out the pie-shaped segments "71 to provide added volume for the sec-ondary fluid. In use, the entire volume of hot Water would not ordinarily be used; the mixing head is designed to have sufficient capacity to both dilute and heat.

A movement of .093 inch is normally required to open the valve 17. Preferably, the legs extend .150 inch above the top peripheral edge of the main member 25 to enable their downward movement by the bearing means 34 without immersion thereof in the secondary fluid. Similarly the top may be completely distorted inwardly to reduce the volume of the housing the required amount Without immersion. In this manner, pumping of secondary uid is avoided. In a preferred embodiment, the housing is a vertical cylinder having an inside diameter and height of about 11A inches, the distance between the bearing means 34 and the t-ops of the legs 33 being about .187 inch.

When mounted on a can, the valve 17 exerts an upward force on the socket 16 and aids the dome 70 (or arms 72) in vertically orienting the legs 33 for operative coaction with the bearing means 34. As seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, the bearing means and legs have complementary camming ysurfaces 74 and 75 respectively, the surfaces on the legs being primarily a rounding of all edges and corners to ease their movement upon engagement with the annular control lip 76 and divergence control surface 77 of the bearing means 34 which, as seen on .somewhat enlarged scale in FIG. 2, causes an outward divergence of the legs increasing the vertical passageway defined, by the legs and increasing the spaces between adjoining legs to thereby increase entrainment and mixing. Variations in the divergence control surface 77 can easily be made to produce lathers of varying consistencies. In the abovementioned preferred embodiment, the passageway between the legs may be varied from 1A inch to 5/16 inch inside diameter. The outer thickened edge 78 of the top 29 is provided over the main member 25 to transmit the forces produced during automatic assembly of the mixing head on the container.

The legs 33 and socket 16 provide a valve actuator and the arms 72 and bearing means 34 provide a mounting means for the valve actuator. The bearing means may take various forms; the smooth concave inner surface of the top would be satisfactory and operate well with legs slightly longer than those shown.

The modification shown in FIG. 5 provides sa normally expanded wall means 22 in the form of a top 40 extending above the spout 19, this top `40 being in the form of a bel-lows 42 which just prior to the dispensing operation (FIG. 6) is compressed and distorted within its elastic limit to reduce the volume `of the housing 18 and, upon the cessation of the dispensing operation, the top returns itself to its normal expanded condition to accommodate expanding mixture residuum. The housing 18 in this modification is moved inwardly against the valve 17 after the bellows 42 have been compressed. The housing 18 is held on the container 15 by means of the collar 43 which clamps over the rim 27 of the can. A lug 44 (FIG. 7) on the housing 18 snaps and extends into a vertical slot 45 in the collar 43 to retain the parts in assembled condition while allowing vertical movement of the housing within the collar. The cylinder `46 is provided with a solid bottom 47 and a cap 48 with a concave inner surface. An expansion hole 52 is provided in the cap 48 and a top annular rim 49 and locking ring 50 combination clamp the lower annular surface of the bellows 42 to the cap 48.

Referring now to the modification shown in FIG. 8, it will be seen that the normally expanded wall means 22 of the housing is in the form of a thin wall cup 60 which forms the normally expanded wall means 22 and serves as the bottom of the housing. A collar 63, as previously described, is employed to connect the housing 18 to the container 15. A cap 64 with spout 65 is removably connected at the top of the sidewall 6l.

In all modifications, the compliance of the normally expanded wall means 22 is of a predetermined quantity to insure the deformation or distortion thereof into a compressed or distorted condition prior to actuation of the valve, the inherent resiliency of the waill means 22 also being sufficient to :return the elements to their normally fully open condition to provide the increased volume for accommodating expanding mixture residum in the housing after normal dispensing. If required, a biasing means could be added to aid t-he valve in moving the other parts back to normal positions.

While this invention has been specifically described as used for a hot shaving lather dispenser, it will be understood that the invention in all its modifications may be used equally effectively. in other areas, particularly with shampoos to which would be added a tinting fluid as the secondary fluid and other cosmetics wherein la combination of Ia secondary fluid with a primary propellant fluid is desired.

While the invention has been described and illustrated with reference to a particular preferred embodiment, it is understood that this is for purposes of illustration only, and it is intended to cove-1' all further embodiments and modifications which fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A mixing head for use with a pressurized primary fluid container having a movable discharge valve of the type which is normally biased to a closed condition, said mixing head comprising a housing having 1a spout at its upper portion and a socket at its lower portion for snugly receiving Iand actuating said valve, moving means operatively arranged for moving said socket to actuate said valve, said housing being adapted to contain a -hot secondary uid for heating and blending with the primary fluid of the container, said socket having a pin-hole size orifice in fluid communication with the valve and the housing and said spout having an inner opening communicating with said housing about four to eight times larger than said orifice to cause the cold stream of primary fluid discharging from said valve to agitate and contact a significan-t portion of the secondary fluid to cause heat transfer and also to entrain and mix with a portion of the secondary uid to produce a combined stream for discharge through said spout, said housing including exible hinge means extending inwardly and upwardly from said housing to said socket to align and position said socket on the valve and to enable vertical movement of said socket 4by said moving means for valve actuating, said housing including a main member having a lower peripheral edge fo-r attachment to the container and a top removably connected to its top peripheral edge, said spout opening being positioned in said top, said top having a bearing means surrounding said opening, peripherally spaced legs connected to and extending from said socket toward said bearing means and terminating Iabove said top peripheral edge, said top being distoritable downwardly within its elastic limits to cause opening movement of said valve through the bearing means, spaced legs and socket.

2. A mixing head as `dened in claim 11 and wherein said bearing `means and said legs have complementary camming engaging surfaces which insure proper engagement and which control the vertical angular attitude of the legs during the dispensing operation.

3. A mixing head as defined in claim 2 and wherein in unbiased condition said bearing means is vertically spaced lab-ove lSaid legs a predetermined distance, and wherein Said top includes normally expanded wall means which is ydistortable inwardly to reduce the volume of said lhousing a predetermined amount before said bearing means forces said legs downwardly whereby upon cessation of valve actuation the volume of the housing will be increased to accommodate any increase in lvolume of mixture residuum in said housing after normal dispensing.

4. A mixing head as dened i-n claim 3 fand wherein said exible hinge means and Said socket form the bottom Wall of lthe housing.

5. A :mixing head `as deli-ned in claim 1 and wherein said housing includes exible hinge means having a pluiratlity of yarms extending inwandly and upwardly from said housing to said socket to align and position said socket on the valve and to enable vertical movement of said socket by said moving means for valve actuation, said bottom of said housing being substantially open and the ,peripheral edge of said bottom being adapted to engage the container in a fluid-tight manner to contain said secondary uid.

6. A mixing head for use with ia pressurized primary illuid container having a movable discharge valve of the type which is normally biased to a closed condition, said mixing head comprising a housing having a spout at its upper portion and an apertured socket Iat its lower poirtion for snugly receiving and actuating -said valve, said housing being adapted to contain a secondary uid for blending with the primary fluid of said container discharged therein tlhnough said socket when said vlalve is actuated to open condition, said housing including normallly expanded wall means which just plrior to the actuation of said valve to open condition becomes distorted within its elastic limi-t neducing the Ivolume of said housing and which upon the cessation of said actuation returns to its normally undistorted condition increasing the volume of said housing to Iaccommodate any increase in volume of mixture residuum in said housing after normal dispensing, Said housing including a thin waill cup which forms a solid bottom with the socket land forms said normally expanded wall mean-s Iand which is initially distolrted to reduce the volume of said housing during no-rmal dispensing.

References Cited bythe Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,978,145 4/1961 Lyman s 222-146 3,012,695 12/1961 Lerner 239-304 X 3,217,938 11/1965 Ayres 222-146 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,296,098 5/1962 France.

SAMUEL F. COLEMAN, Primary Examiner. 

1. A MIXING HEAD FOR USE WITH A PRESSURIZED PRIMARY FLUID CONTAINER HAVING A MOVABLE DISCHARGE VALVE OF THE TYPE WHICH IS NORMALLY BIASED TO A CLOSED CONDITION, SAID MIXING HEAD COMPRISING A HOUSING HAVING A SPOUT AT ITS UPPER PORTION AND A SOCKET AT ITS LOWER PORTION FOR SNUGLY RECEIVING AND ACTUATING SAID VALVE, MOVING MEANS OPERATIVELY ARRANGED FOR MOVING SAID SOCKET TO ACTUATE SAID VALVE, SAID HOUSING BEING ADAPTED TO CONTAIN A HOT SECONDARY FLUID FOR HEATING AND BLENDING WITH THE PRIMARY FLUID OF THE CONTAINER, SAID SOCKET HAVING A PIN-HOLE SIZE ORIFICE IN FLUID COMMUNICATION WITH THE VALVE AND THE HOUSING AND SAID SPOUT HAVING AN INNER OPENING COMMUNICATING WITH SAID HOUSING ABOUT FOUR TO EIGHT TIMES LARGER THAN SAID ORIFICE TO CAUSE THE COLD STREAM OF PRIMARY FLUID DISCHARGING FROM SAID VALVE TO AGITATE AND CONTACT A SIGNIFICANT PORTION OF THE SECONDARY FLUID TO CAUSE HEAT TRANSFER AND ALSO TO ENTRAIN AND MIX WITH A PORTION OF THE SECONDARY FLUID TO PRODUCE A COMBINED STREAM FOR DISCHARGE THROUGH SAID SPOUT, SAID HOUSING INCLUDING FLEXIBLE HINGE MEANS EXTENDING INWARDLY AND UPWARDLY FROM SAID HOUSING TO SAID SOCKET TO ALIGN AND POSITION SAID SOCKET ON THE VALVE AND TO ENABLE VERTICAL MOVEMENT OF SAID SOCKET BY SAID MOVING MEANS FOR VALVE ACTUATING, SAID HOUSING INCLUDING A MAIN MEMBER HAVING A LOWER PERIPHERAL EDGE FOR ATTACHMENT TO THE CONTAINER AND A TOP REMOVABLY CONNECTED TO ITS TOP PERIPHERAL EDGE, SAID SPOUT OPENING BEING POSITIONED IN SAID TOP, SAID TOP HAVING A BEARING MEANS SURROUNDING SAID OPENING, PERIPHERALLY SPACED LEGS CONNECTED TO AND EXTENDING FROM SAID SOCKET TOWARD SAID BEARING MEANS AND TERMINATING ABOVE SAID TOP PERIPHERAL EDGE, SAID TOP BEING DISTORTABLE DOWNWARDLY WITHIN ITS ELASTIC LIMITS TO CAUSE OPENING MOVEMENT OF SAID VALVE THROUGH THE BEARING MEANS, SPACED LEGS AND SOCKET. 